Discuss ways that teachers might integrate work concepts into classroom instruction at the elementary and middle school levels.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: Response should include:
• Teachers at the elementary level can provide exposure to different types of occupations. Parents and community members may talk to students about different career areas so that students are exposed to a wide variety of potential vocations. Field trips may also be arranged so students can compare different occupations. Students may become involved in community service activities or may sample different types of jobs around the school like helping to clean blackboards, watering plants, taking messages in the office, reshelving books, emptying trash, or helping the grounds crew. Within the classroom, teachers can introduce concepts such as money, responsibility, dependability, and the importance of work. Teachers may also set up different work stations within the classroom where students have specific responsibilities.
• At the middle school level, communication should continue with parents and community members while more emphasis is placed on developing general work habits such as appropriate work appearance, appropriate response to criticism, getting along with others, teamwork skills, time management, and on-task behavior at work stations. At the middle school level, students should develop a repertoire of general employability skills and work attitudes so that secondary teachers may concentrate on more specific vocational skills and competencies. Students may have increasing responsibilities at the school library, office, lunch room, and school fundraising events, and community service-learning projects. Students can become more active in school events and at the same time learn valuable work skills through activities such as taking tickets at games and dances, selling refreshments at school functions, delivering audiovisual equipment, and stocking supplies at the school store.
Learning Objective: Explain the roles and importance of learning, working, living, and playing in the transition process; and demonstrate how examples of each of these areas can be explicitly taught and integrated into other classroom instruction.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Instructional Content and Strategies
Difficulty Level: Hard